Management and Business

John Ottersbach Info I-303 arrangingal informatics June 17, 2009 Project 4 This is the regorge handle from evaluating the AgCredit mini- slip ( casebook pages 131-134) 1. Synopsis This case cerebratees on an agriculture credit and loan phoner whose core ability is found around its client fuckledge. The transcriptions IT complex body part and refinement does not suit the line of fiddle puff up. The current modelup is not opening computer architecture and staff issues are rampant. There has been a hole of preparatory fail through in analyzing the situation and a new team was form to chart a way of life of action to transform IT.With much of the entropy gathering completed, the team now must convince the ancestry leaders of the changes and be brought on board. Communicating the goals and hereafter plans to involve the note go away be vital for the companys IT to become effective. 2. Key Issues 1. The companys executives are very busy with day to day operatio ns and new initiatives. IT competence has slipped over time and the grammatical construction was never aline with organizational imagery. 2. Although some backend tinkering has made company wide selective culture kindly in some cases, the current systems are not compatible and fundamental interaction between them is poor. . IT does not devote credibility at heart the lines of agate line. This is a know shortcoming and impart be send fored in the reorganization of IT. 4. art turnes are not understood by IT staff and often the job it ego lacks a thorough gasp on their work outes. The interconnections of the processes are unclear to both(prenominal) sides of the organization also. 5. The divisions do not understand their post within the organization and they must figure out how they should support the enterprise. Aligning their individual goals with strategic drivers pass oning unavoid equalness to be done.There are four championship divisions within AgCredit. 6 . The companys strategic drivers are continuous growth, expanse of guest relationships, ability to spend more time with the customers, ability to cross-sell runs, and provide a existent experience to the customer. 7. A CIO position was created to queue IT and the blood and to study the IT transformation. The new CIO has run a successful campaign with e- line of reasoning and comes to the position with sporting eyes, however a lack of formal technical experience. He is easy utilizing contractors and taking in multiple points of look on. 8.No IT governance or architecture is currently in place. Rather a divisional structure has existed and enterprise vision is sh all(prenominal)ow. IT decisions are made to ful engage short-term necessarily and initiatives. IT feed is viewed as a support service for the personal line of credit. 9. Some of the IT staffing issues are low morale, juicy subcontract ambiguity, unqualified staff filling positions, technical skills lacking in some areas, no senior IT jazzr positions, and many unfilled job designs. Part of retooling the IT architecture must be to sort out these staffing sine qua nons. 10. An application-centric post rules the company.This has led to four separate databases, one per division, and huge data muss and redundancy. 11. An SOA approach has been suggested based on organizational needs, to transform IT. Those needs follow on integrating technologies and platforms without replacement. Vendor choices ordain receive to be narrowed and an thanksgiving process put in place backed with execution metrics and processes. 12. The next steps pass on be consolidating the customer data and fortify its foundation. A single restore of customer information is the expectation and this provide also attention get along trust and credibility toward IT, within the organization. . elusion Evaluation Strategy that was usedThis report looks at a horizontal cut of many interrelated issues (refer to Sec tion 5 later in the report for further explanation of these issues). Mixing the details of the case with the general issues into a relevant and cogent analysis was the main concern and involved different methods. a. Setting the Context In tell apart to formulate an organizational structure I role- routineed assertable structures and looked for effective relationships. The case lent many soundly depressing points and I just carried the ideas forward with an eye on the future. . major Initiatives and Priorities of AgCredit After getting an idea of how the structure would look I employ knowledge from the some other cases and best practices mentioned from the textbook to suggest a prioritization process for project selection. After developing textbook scenarios further for the new SOA solve to test I looked at the possible outcomes and largest advantages. The recommendations are used in the answer section 4. c. Looking back Ideas for the capabilities and governance also cam e from the lectures, exercises, and earlier case work.Although the specifics are much different in that the standardization of equipment is not common between them, the cases all need better business-IT partnerships and oversight. Looking for what agnises them similar and different gave a unique perspective to each case. 4. Discussion Questions The chase are the answers to the discussion questions on page 134 of the textbook. Propose an organizational structure for the IT department that you feel would support the transformation of AgCredit into a processcentric organization. Recognition of business ownership bequeath be vital to the organizational structure.Having the business narrow on and join the conversation about IT and related projects get out be instrumental. A steering commission allow be need to be part of the approval process of all projects is needed to nurse certain(p) an enterprise view is taken. The multidivisional direction volition need to attend all p rojects fit within a SOA framework. The CIO should be involved in the council chamber and dedicate access to senior prudence, including the chief executive officer. The CIO should hire senior management that piece of tail convey departmental and business objects and help guide IT employees.Account managers for each throw that reside in the business but report to senior IT management should be installed. The wide IT staff will need to be reassessed to hold the proper people are in the right job roles. The IT function will need to be brought in alignment with the enterprise vision. integrity option is to try to promote internally for va stooget IT positions and insource the roles that massnot be filled. Insourcing will have the distinct advantage of training IT personnel while getting the job done as well. Outsourcing IT functions that are not core competencies can also be employed if desired.Outline a project selection process for AgCredit to attend alignment with the enter prise business vision. As mentioned in the last question, a steering committal that represents many throws will need to be formed and giving decision devising capabilities. The process should begin by examining how a project ties to the overall vision of the company. Next the committee members should draw how the project effects their division and could be used to meet departmental needs if possible. Additionally it will need to make sure it fits within the SOA and is not duplicated by other software package nodes or current processes.If it is an enhancement or add-on to another project, communication with the end user to overhear potential benefits should begin. Making sure it can be modularized and standardized for the business will be vital for the organizations architecture. Additionally making sure all project types are considered and funded by means of a tax income upon all LOBs will be required to support SOA. How should Manley make the case for SOA to ensure that the executive team at AgCredit buys in? Manley will need to present the key strengths of SOA and make sure to concenter on how it will support the companys vision and goals. The transition will change the organization and speed up product implementation. * Current services and products will be gettable or modified for usability. * It supports web services that align with continuous growth opportunities, expanded customer relationships, and ability to cross-sell between the divisions. * It will immediately offer up opportunities for the divisions both in terms of possible financial gains and stretching development dollars. * Existing services can be purchased and implemented quickly within the SOA.This increases our capabilities and ensures we stay caught up with the larger firms. In essence this can level the playing field providing valuable resources and systems. * erstwhile the customer information is centralized, which is required for SOA, the savings from reducing database need s will be realized. * Having common processes will align the business as a whole and ensure value from increased communication and decreased uncertainty. * This kind of engineering base may allow the way we work to change, for drill working from home or on the road working through a VPN.What new internal IT capabilities will have to be real in order to create an IT department to support AgCredits future business architecture? The capabilities needed to support the SOA from the IT perspective are management tools, information management tools, Information delivery options, development cycles, and a customer service attitude toward the divisions. Role clarification will be burning(prenominal) in set up these capabilities. Management tools include visioning and business alignment processes, support methods, measurement metrics and focus, and monitoring methods.Information management tools include collection activities, deck out process including schemes and taxonomy, process modul es to use the information, and maintenance procedures that support business functions. training cycles must conform to SOA standards and guidelines, using compliant hardware and software to make systems that breakdown the functionality, and complaint with regulatory needs, including system proficiency in creating reports for scrutinise purposes. The customer service attitude will be needed to manage perceptions and keep close ties with the business.What aspects of IT governance do you think would be valuable in supporting this transformation? Before governance structures are hold the enterprise and divisional vision and objectives should be draughtd. With IT working alongside the business some guiding principles must be drafted up. This may involve setting up account managers within the LOB and forming a multidiscipline steering committee with considerable decision power. This steering committee should work closely with the CIO and have extravagantly level approval and corpora te sponsorship.The governance system should focus on guiding the transformation process and keeping key issues in focus, such as sox and regulatory compliance. Stakeholder involvement in the steering committee will help the business and IT structures become partners and work in concert. It will ensure all voices are heard and considered in the decision making process. They should outline policy decisions that support the organizations vision early on. 5. Issues I have Discussed I utilized the chart, Dr. Ramachandran offered, to find the connections between the subject study we have studied and the case.My analysis follows From Lecture 4 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 37 50. * In this case IT often takes a backseat to other business concerns. The CEO having to be approached on the weekend to look at IT issues shows a lack of perceived IT value. * The company has a reputation of customer knowledge and that has allowed for competitive advantage. * The CEO believes IT supp orts the business. This belief is reinforced with the way IT is set up to function and furthermore with its failure to meet the minimum standards of qualification and credibility.The instinctual desire to outsource all of IT by Paul Manley is a upright indicator of ITs inability to deliver value to the business. * It commonly believed and judge that IT and business are not aligned at a high level. The desire for the alignment exists and the CEOs decision to promote a strong business head into the CIO position reflects this understanding. * IT possesses a low self worth due partly to poor organizational engagement and role ambiguity. Without high-quality, business-minded leadership the internal perspective of IT has suffered. OCBs are far less apparent to occur in this weakened surroundings. Without a solid enterprise architecture in place IT lacks a unifying vision and single grade. This lack of oversight has not helped promote IT to the business. * With IT creation viewed ne gatively at the executive level, as at the start of the case, IT is at a injury when trying to return value to the organization. The increased bond between the CEO and CIO will dramatically increase a positive perspective for the IT transformation. * The competency and creditability of IT is still highly suspect. The new CIO has acknowledged and is addressing the deficiency.There is an understanding that it will take time and energy to change the perception of the company. This is a prerequisite to having the business units buying into and taking a chance on IT. * The structural changes of IT should address perceptual issues as well at technical ones. The SOA will ensure the business, through their active role as data owners, views IT as a partner rather than just a service for the business. * The perceptual scrap ahead will involve a lengthy temporal component, the organizations view will not shift overnight. IT will have to build authority and show the business that it adds val ue.Additionally perceptions will need to be continually managed with ITs rocky history. From Lecture 6 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 72 85. * A broad(a) exercise before starting the restructure or even the consolidation to a single customer service blame would be to get with the business and develop a engine room roadmap. The entire process does not need to be completed before first base other initiatives but this will give the organization focus and set current expectations. This will involve the business greatly and will absolved the lines of communication for IT and business operations.Since a large part of a technology roadmap is how technology will be implemented to support the enterprise vision, strategy, and objectives this will help ensure the divisions are working toward organizational unification. * Once the enterprise and divisional vision and objectives are lined out the process can begin. Working alongside the business some guiding principles must be d rafted up. This may involve setting up account managers within the LOB and forming a multidiscipline steering committee with considerable decision power. IT staffing cannot be done correctly until business needs are communicated.It will be important to make sure the guiding principles map to the vision. * The vision from the textbook would consist of continuous growth, expanse of customer relationships, ability to spend more time with the customers, ability to cross-sell services, and provide a consistent experience to the customer. Additionally implementing an SOA environment would need to be considered in the process. * Taking an inventory should be intermit into two sections. The first is coming up with a classification schema, which should work well with planning the SOA objectives.The second is assigning a technology keeper which will help build credibility by increasing transparence of responsibility. * A gap analysis of the current technology to required technology will als o need to be completed. This will help build the relationship to the business and show competency for IT if done well. The level of business involvement must be high so an opportunity to influence perception is created. After identifying the missing links a scan of the available technology will need to be undertaken. SOA design will play a vital role in deciding on which software and hardware need to be developed or purchased. In order to get from point A to point B, point B being an SOA for the company, a solid migration strategy must be created.This will locomote the projects that have been put on hold within the organization and future projects as well. This will need input from the business since they will be severely impacted. The steering committee should be well established and able to make informed decisions on this type of endeavor. A governance body will need to be installed that oversees this process and its future revisions. From Lecture 7 and the Textbook reading assig nment pages 98 126. In order to come in the organization vision AgCredit has an Information Management system needs to be instituted. This will be housing the single customer information file. Visioning exercises will help develop policies to support the IM. * The IM will be a great first step toward changing the culture to acceptance of IT function and the partnership role in the organization. A SOA will be back up by this move also and will bring the company focus together. * Shaping the culture to accept the responsibility and a steering committees authority will take time to develop especially with such a weak IT role in the current organization.Bring them on board will be vital to success though. With all of the pass judgment growth and centralizing of information security policy will have to become standardized and thorough. If any of the IT functions get outsourced this move will help make the transition and usefulness operate more smoothly and efficiently. * The sign SO A will be created through a process that needs spacious organizational representation and support. The final acceptance will need to be at the senior level though. * Adjusting the perspective and culture toward acceptance will be instrumental to the initiatives success.Paul Manley will need to take an active role in convincing the business to sign on and support the initiative. 6. Organization Chart CEO Jim Finney CIO Paul Manley COO Steve Stewart Kate Longair Samantha Secord Dirk Schader 7. Further Issues From Lecture 2 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 14 25. * IT and the business are not aligned. The business is not even aware of how the different divisions come together to work for the organization. The business will have to sort itself out as well as build a partnership with IT. * They have begun to revisit the business model and are aware there is a lot of work to be done.Since the business is aligning itself that leaves IT in a good position to tie itself to all LOB s. Strategic themes have not been capitalized upon but with the SOA the chances of identifying and being able to act on them will be greater. acquiring strong leadership in place within IT and partnering with IT will be a major task that needs to be undertaken. * The different project types are currently not broken up and funded appropriately. The architecture projects depend to be falling behind and definitely not aligned with business strategy. The focus on all dimensions of IT strategy will need to be a priority for the new steering committee.Building these processes and methods alongside the business will ensure commitment and success. This has not been the case with AgCredit in the past but in order to get IT working for the company it will have to be adopted and maintained. * Account managers that report to the CIO or senior IT managers will need to be hired or found internally. IT and the businesss disconnect between must cease and they should unify. From Lecture 9 and the T extbook reading assignment pages 230 244. * IT has not kept pace with were it needs to be for the organization.They are not prepared to take on the expanded roles IT is anticipate to recently. The company will need to correct the IT organizational structure and thence figure out what competencies they possess. They will need to chart the maturity and make sure they teach or hire staff that can fill the roles the company wants to keep internal. The notion of outsourcing all of IT was raised at the start of the case, but the executives need to get together and chart a course for the organization. After getting an idea of where they want to be they can really start to consider what IT functions can be outsourced.Customer service functions and capabilities will need to remain in-house since this is the businesss competitive advantage in the environment. * The staffing issues in the company are a direct result of not realizing which IT functions the business needs to cultivate and rel y on. There are too many functions for this company to be able to turn around perform well so something will have to give and other alternatives, either insourcing or outsourcing, need to be considered. Without knowing how the business divisions and processes fit together it will be hard to complete, but IT and the business need to work together to create a solution.